Protester may be vindicated in 'N-30' assault case

Charges downgraded as evidence is reconsidered

By TRACY JOHNSON, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, October 17, 2002

Jeremiah Jones has always insisted he didn't hurl a bottle or anything else at a Seattle police captain, almost blinding him, from the time he was arrested until long after he was found guilty of second-degree assault.

Now the evidence seems to support his side. King County prosecutors agreed yesterday they probably wouldn't be able to prove the 22-year-old man assaulted anyone during a downtown protest two years ago.

Jones, who was about to face a second trial over the incident, now faces only a gross-misdemeanor obstructing police charge -- one that will be dismissed next year if he avoids any run-ins with police.

"It is absolutely the right resolution to this case," said Jones' attorney, Song Richardson. "Jeremiah's main concern was to clear his name . . . this has been just a nightmare for him."

Jones could not be reached for comment last night. He spent more than a week in jail after his arrest, although Judge Douglass North granted the young man a new trial before he was ever sentenced. Capt. Ron Mochizuki was one of many police officers patrolling downtown Nov. 30, 2000, the first anniversary of the World Trade Organization riots, when a hurled object struck him in the eye and caused permanent damage.

Jones was convicted of assault last year, but won a new trial with the help of defense attorney Lenell Nussbaum and the statement of a police detective who said he saw someone else throwing bottles that day. The detective, working undercover, said a man ran past him and appeared to be throwing bottles, but was wearing a black ski mask. Jones was not masked.

In court documents, Nussbaum also said another protester told a local attorney that he was actually the one who hurt the police captain -- information that never made its way to Jones' trial attorney until after Jones was convicted. Later, Jones' attorneys were unable to get the other protester to admit he said anything.

Seattle police spokeswoman Deanna Nollette last night said it is up to prosecutors to decide what can be proven in court.

Richardson and attorney Jeff Robinson talked with witnesses and scrutinized video shot by news crews and a bystander. They learned that at least two people were throwing things at police, but neither were dressed anything like Jones.

On the tape, Jones is wearing tan overalls, a tie-dyed shirt and pigtails. He's seen being jostled by the crowd and doesn't have anything in his hands, said Richardson, who said she was able to show the video was shot around the same time that Mochizuki was hit.

"We looked at the new information and agreed we simply couldn't go forward with the charges," prosecutor's spokesman Dan Donohoe said yesterday. "We wanted to do what was in the interest of justice."

He said the obstructing charge was related to Jones' subsequent arrest. Police and prosecutors will continue to investigate the assault of the officer to find a suspect, including further scrutiny of the videotape, Donohoe said.

The "N-30" protests resulted in more than 100 arrests, though Jones was one of just a few people who faced felony charges.

One man subsequently pleaded guilty in an assault on an officer and served one month in jail; another served three days in jail and 27 days of community service for tossing a firecracker at police.